Proposed ordinance would require dog owners to declare their race
Police Chief Gary Benthin of Eden, NC has proposed an ordinance that will require Pit Bull owners to be photographed and provide a record of their name, address, race, gender, date of birth and place of employment in addition to shelling out a $50 registration fee.
Really, if this weren't so absurd, I might have some witty things to say. As it stands, I'm out of witty things to say because obviously the police chief forgot about the United States Constitution and the federal government. Bad police chief.
I'm not Eden's city attorney, but I am an attorney. Mr. Benthin's idea to track the race and gender of DOG OWNERS in Eden is probably going to cause him some serious federal headaches. Frankly, I can only hope Eden's city attorney is explaining exactly why Mr. Benthin should not and, in fact, legally cannot start racially profiling dog owners. One wonders -- exactly how is race and gender information even related to dog ownership? Why doesn't he just get to the root of it push for a law forbidding black and Latino men from owning Pit Bulls? Anyone want to share a bag of popcorn with me as this absurdity unfolds?
http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060902/NEWSREC0101/60902007